At this time of year especially, we’d like to express our gratitude to all of our quilting friends, those celebrating Thanksgiving with us here in the US, as well as our friends around the world. Thank you for sharing our love of quilting, sewing and crafting!
May you enjoy a safe, happy and creative holiday season…
Have you seen the latest edition of McCall’s Quilting magazine (Jan/Feb 2014)? Among its beautiful featured quilts is this design by Homestead Hearth. They’ve transformed our Molly B’s Harvest Palette and Primo Batiks collections into a richly colored quilt inspired by Italian mosaic tilework. A kit is available.
The holidays are here! And we can practically feel the vibrations of your sewing machines all over the world, creating gifts and decorative accents for the upcoming festivities. Now, if you’re still in search of fresh holiday inspiration, try Nancy Rink’s Fancy Packages quilt design, done in her own TWEET FOR TWO prints for Marcus Fabrics. Nancy’s easy layout lets you customize the block configurations to create not only the wall hanging as show, but also pillow fronts (approx. 4 by 4 blocks or 1 x 3 blocks for a bolster style), mantle drapes (approx. 3 by 10 blocks), table runners (approx. 2 by 12 blocks) and more! Of course the actual number of blocks you need will depend on your desired finished size. Don’t you just love a versatile quilt pattern?
The excitement over our Just Judie quilt competition continues, as Marcus Fabrics celebrated the achievement of our Grand Prize winner, Lisa Even of Barrington, IL, whose entry was sponsored by The Quilt Merchant in Winfield, IL. Our own Director of Marketing, Pati Violick, brought a trunk show of the three winning quilts, along with some of Judie Rothermel’s creations, as attendees oooh’d and aahh’d the gorgeous fabrics and techniques! Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts and Marcus sales rep Bill Garrettson also joined in the fun. Check out some of the highlights:
Lisa shows offer her fabulous work – it earned her a $2500 cash prize, and a Brother Laura Ashley Innova sewing machine!
Lisa also treated us to a glimpse of her current project…
Quilters also enjoyed a close-up of Marcus’ Civil War PEACE & UNITY BOM quilt. This is the final installment of our Civil war series.
Judie Rothermel’s miniatures were a highlight of the day…these minis, from her private collection, made a rare public appearance. Such small quilts, such huge impact!
Taking Second Place in the Just Judie competition was Sarah Bond’s creation. We love her Orange Peel design. Done in Judie’s fabrics, its’ the perfect marriage of trend and tradition! It’s shown off here by Quilt Merchant owner Valerie Langue (left) and Pati Violick of Marcus Fabrics.
And our Third Place winning entry, a beautiful hand-appliqued circle designf by Nancy Yando…
For more photos, visit Pam Buda’s blog. Thanks to everyone who came to join us in celebrating Lisa, Judie, and the quilting traditions we all love! Lisa, enjoy your machine…we can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
I just checked in on Pam Buda’s blog and had to share her post with you…it’s all about taking (or making) more tike to do the things we love in the midst of life’s many gotta-do’s and distractions.
So, what recipe did you use?? — Lisa
We love Perkins Dry Goods’
original take on Pam’s PIN MONEY collection, in this graphic quilt design. Stitch it up in Topper, Throw or Queen sizes, using Perkins’ scrappy or two-color approach.
Comfort & Devotion: A Quilting Tribute to Nurses of the Civil War, inspired by the courageous stories of Clara Barton and eight other Civil War nurses. Quilt designers Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith of Homestead Hearth created a classic collection of eight quilts and one patriotic pillow that celebrates their legacy. Profiles of each nurse reveal a glimpse of the many challenges they experienced.
The book features many Marcus collections in the various step-by-step quilt projects.
Another Quilt Market find was “Feathers and Stars Abound”, by Zvia Strahilevitz-Klein. This gorgeous quilt design was part of the Coats-sponsored special exhibit entitled In the American Tradition 2013. We think the quilter’s own comments say it best — see below…
Marcus Fabrics is thrilled to announce the Winners of our Just Judie Quilt Competition! After reviewing over 300 entries, the field was narrowed to just 25 Finalists From there, the difficult (but fun!) process of final judging gave us these exciting results. A complete list of Finalists will be posted on MarcusFabrics.com shortly.
GRAND PRIZE
Lisa Even of Barrington, IL - “Bringing the Past to the Present”
Sponsoring Shop – The Quilt Merchant, Winfield, IL
$2500 Cash + Brother Sewing Machine + Prize Pack
(English paper-pieced, machine pieced; Machine quilted by Dawn Larsen 61″ x 64″ )
Second Prize:
Sarah Bond of Philadelphia, PA - “Orange Peel Reel”
Sponsoring Shop – Round Bobbin Quilt Shop, Ambler, PA
$1000 Cash + Prize Pack
(Paper-piecing & traditional piecing; Machine quilted by Carol Heisler 78″ x 78″ )
Third Prize:
Nancy Yando of Fuquay-Varina, NC - “Sewing Circles”
Sponsoring Shop – Lonestar Mercantile, Fuquay-Varina, NC
$500 + Prize Pack
(Hand appliquéd & hand quilted dimensional padded circles 48″ x48″ )
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
All 25 of our Finalists will also receive a Prize Pack of quilting essentials from our generous sponsor partners: Brother, Simplicity, Dritz Quilting, Omnigrid, Pellon and Martingale.
As a New York City-based company, Marcus Fabrics, and its employees living throughout the tri-state area, experienced the devastation of Superstorm “Sandy” first-hand in 2012. Still now, nearly a year after the storm, many of the residents along the New Jersey shore are still struggling with the aftermath…
This includes our Guild Connection member, the Pieceful Shores Quilt Guild in Manahawkin, NJ. Months after the storm, guild member Judy Kronmeyer contacted us about “Sandy’s Scraps,” a tribute quilt they were planning. Their local quilt shop, Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, donated some of the fabric for the guild project, including BARNEGAT BAY by Laura Berringer for Marcus Fabrics. Judy wrote:
“In the past you have been very helpful to our Pieceful Shores QG in Manahawkin and I thank you. I’m sure you are aware of the damage Sandy did and how so many homes were damaged or lost.
Our guild is having a show in October and I’m collecting blocks from the 22 ladies that were affected by the storm and putting them together for a Sandy’s Scraps quilt.
I’ve gotten 10 blocks so far and can’t wait to see the others…such talented ladies we have. We’re unable to use our regular meeting place, and the one on LBI (Long Beach Island) is being utilized by the health department. so we have scrambled for new meeting places over the last several months, meeting at our local libraries mostly. But we are strong and quilters and will find a permanent place no matter what.
Well, that’s the story. It’s been a trying time for so many so I hope this tribute will help.” —- Judy Kronmeyer, Waretown, NJ
Soon after, Judy sent us an update on Millie, one of the guild’s members who was most affected by the storm:
“Millie is going to help with Sandy’s scrap quilt, even though she is still in the process of recovering from Sandy. She spent several months in various temporary quarters until May where she moved back to her house but has only been living on the second floor with a makeshift kitchenette. She had no hot water but had electricity so she alternately shared tasks with her son, who lives across the lagoon. Her electric box was above the water line in the garage. She had to replace everything on the bottom floor; appliances, flooring, paneling, walls, cabinets, furniture, all the bathroom fixtures, hot water heater. The telephone company provided a new third generation land line phone. She says she was lucky to have had insurance as many of her neighbors didn’t. Nine months later, she says she’s way ahead of her son and neighbors in getting ‘back to normal’. Out of 4300 homes in Beach Haven West, she thinks maybe 300 were not devastated by Sandy. Her sewing machine was on the top floor but she still hasn’t sewn anything in all this time. She said she is now motivated to help with the quilt”.
View the information contained on the quilt label:
Thank you to the Pieceful Shores Quilt Guild for sharing their quilt and their story with us, and for proving again the strength, resilience and creativity of quilters in times of hardship. The tribute quilt is beautiful, and we wish Millie and everyone else affected a full return to normalcy.
NOTE: With all of its many challenges in the past year, still “the show must go on”. We’re happy to announce that the guild’s show, “Setting Sails,” takes place on October 4th and 5th, 2013, Manahawkin, NJ. For details visit www.piecefulshoresquiltguild.